Torchwood A Day Old Corpsy
by KuteKati1989
Summary: the title is supposed to sorta rhyme with 2001 A Space odyssey, quite grim but hey ho! M for language and mature-ish content. rnr guys ta!


This story is about the remaining characters after the finale of series 2, Jack, Ianto and Gwen and my OC Loria, set after 'Tricky Situation'-A doctor who fic. (Check it out) I do not own Torchwood or any of its characters, Loria is my character but everything else has been borrowed from Russell T Davies.

_It's a bleak July night in Cardiff and a limp body drags itself through a graveyard, blind with a melted left eye, a very lax tongue hanging out of a snapped jaw, with patchy, short brown hair over a green tinted scalp._

_The right leg takes most of the weight as a footless left drags limply behind; the body is covered by clothes bonded to the bubbled and rotting skin, a t-shirt melted into its torso, jeans have become a second skin, and a sock still clings to the right foot. Bone showing through all down the left arm, fingers missing from the right. This body belongs to a dead man, so why is it walking around?_

_As it stumbles blindly through the cemetery, it stops and flops to the ground in front of the fresh grave of a young man, and it starts to dig, taking no notice of its surroundings it keeps going, when it reaches hard wood it starts to slowly pummel the lid of the coffin until it cracks, it pulls out the corpse so the torso and arms are protruding out of the large hole the dead man has made, and slowly but surely he pulls the young man's eyes from their sockets and places one in his own right eye socket; before removing his damaged left and placing the new one in, a green light emits from the stolen eyes as they bond to his leathery skin which turns a shade whiter, losing some of the green tinge._

_He then breaks the bottom jaw off his already dead victim and swapping his for the new model, it joins almost instantly, leaving no scarring and like the eyes the skin loses some of the green and turns a shade whiter. The walking corpse can now see and has mobility of its mouth; it climbs clumsily out and shovels the earth back on top the grave; but makes no real effort to cover his movements. As the rain starts to fall again and sunrise begins; he limps back to wherever he came from._

Back at Torchwood HQ Captain Jack Harkness peruses the latest report from U.N.I.T, its 5:13; sunrise. He yawns and stretches his arms wide, feeling all his vertebrae popping back into the right place he puts his shirt on and moves into the Hub, as he starts up the coffee machine he hears movement from the sleeping quarters below his office, and a very sleepy Loria emerges, wearing nothing but a criminally short night shirt and fluffy slippers.

"Good Morning, I didn't realise we were having a pyjama party today?"

"Sod off, Im not awake love, you making coffee?"  
"Oh yeah, you want?"  
"Me want lots" Loria managed to say through a yawn.

"Milk, two sugars right?"

"Jack, I've been here nearly two months plus you worked with me for 60 years and you're still not sure how I take my coffee?"  


"Yeah, Im just not as good at this as Ianto, that's all!" he said and he flashes his award winning smile, she smiled back and confirms his guess.

"So, what's on the agenda today then boss?" Loria asks.

"Well, you still need to repair the three guns that you squeezed the triggers to death on, and then I need you to get to grips with-- this"

"What the fuck - is that?!" Jack places something that looked like a cross between a giant jelly baby and a metal wood louse on the conference table.

"That. My dear is what you're gonna figure out, U.N.I.T found it in the outskirts of the city, an old lady found it while she walkin' her dog this morning" Jack doesn't think this is such a big deal, until he sees the look on his friend's face, "What?"

"U.N.I.T finds something that looks like it should be on 'Robot Wars' and you have no information about it at ALL!" Loria shrieks.

"Well, they think it might be from the Melion system, from the angle it was embedded in the ground"

"It's not Melion; that whole system is _way_ too advanced for this, this is old school stuff, saying that, Earth technology is nowhere near this advanced, so maybe its new-ish school stuff" she grins into her coffee as she takes a sip.

"I love it when you tell me that U.N.I.T is wrong, it's such fun telling them they suck, it's a great way to start the day!" he kisses her on the forehead and goes to call whoever deals with Torchwood feedback at U.N.I.T; meanwhile Loria climbs onto the table and eyes the 'Jelly Bug' from all angles, poking all the wobble material at the front and back, she pauses, wrinkles her nose and hops down again to take a shower.

". . . No, my colleague has just confirmed it's not Melion System technology, it's not advanced enough. Whoever you got doin your research down there needs firing, fast!" Jack ends the phone call and turns to his window and looks out on the Hub, he watches as Ianto arrives, looking crisp calm and in Jack's opinion _very_ sexy this morning; Ianto glances up and smiles, Jack returns a wink and then points at his mug, indicating the need for a refill – clearly an excuse to get Ianto in his office.

Ianto picks up the coffee jug and milk and walks towards the office door; Jack leans up against the door frame and greets Ianto with a soft kiss.

"Morning Ianto"

"Morning Sir"

"Ianto when are you gonna stop callin' me 'sir'?

"It's a habit, sorry S- Jack"

"Better! Gwen in yet?"

"She's on her way in; her text said she was running a bit late this morning"

"Typical, that woman is a liability some mornings" Jack smiles at Ianto to show he's kidding; Ianto returns the grin and goes about his business.

Gwen arrives as Ianto leaves the office and waves to Jack, who taps his watch in jest and smiles.

She places her coat on the back of her chair and logs into the system, Ianto places a mug at her left hand.

"Morning Gwen"

"Hello Ianto, sorry to text you earlier but your easier to reach than our fearless leader!"

"No problem, any time"

"Thanks Ianto, you're a dream!" Gwen calls as she takes a sip of her strong black syrup, she logs into the news network for anything suspicious from the last 24 hours, there was the usual, disruptive and drunken behaviour, a mugging and an assault down the Bay, all clear for now. So continues on a report that was supposed to be in a week ago.

Loria emerges from her shower, dries her hair and dresses in tight black jeans and her baggy grey shirt that she wears for taking odd looking machinery to bits; she retrieves her tools and camera from her work bench and spots Gwen.

"Morning Gwen"

"Hiya love, you ok?"

"Oh yeah, I've got a big metal jelly baby upstairs to identify not only what it is but where it's from, fun, fun, fun!"

"You what?" Gwen stands up and follows Loria up the stairs to get a look at this mystery thing, as she walks in the door her eyes widen, "Good god what the fuck is that?!"

"That was my reaction hun! I've nicknamed it 'Sir Killa-Jelly-Bug', I think it suits it"

"Why?" Gwen laughs.

"Well, it looks like a cross between a robot, a woodlouse and a jelly baby, so I mixed a bit of all of them together and hey presto! Sir Killa-Jelly-Bug"

"I like it, what did U.N.I.T say?"

"The usual, a load of bollocks, they reckon it was from a system that is way too advanced to use this junk, I think the jelly stuff might be released on impact, and if Im right which Im very seldom not, then this thing should be hollow"

"Why hollow?"

"If it's hollow then that means it was carrying something, either fragile goods, or a living thing"

"What if it's not hollow?"

"Then Im stumped" Loria laughs.

"Well love I'll leave you to it, Im so behind on this report on John Harper's where-a-bouts"

"You still haven't done that?" Jack asks as he comes up behind Gwen, she grimaces and then turns round.

"Im sorry Jack, I just haven't had much info on him and I thought whats the point in sending out scraps of useless data?"

"I guess you're right, but _still, _write it and get it on my desk by tonight or there will be spanking involved, and not the good kind!" as he says it he goes to back hand Gwen on the arse but misses as she screams and runs from the room.

"You still got the hots for her then?"  
"What?"  
Loria looks up from the alien craft at Jack and raises one eyebrow.

"You know full well, its bloody obvious darlin'"

"How obvious?" Jack asks with worry laced in his voice.

"Only to the trained eye, or from an outside angle looking in, you two have chemistry; just make sure you don't put anything on the line for it"

"You mean Ianto"

"And Rhys, just don't be a pratt Jack ok?"

"ME? Pfft, never"

"Hmmm, just think on it young man" says Loria.

"Don't worry about me, just worry about Sir Killa-Jelly-Bug ok?"

"Im on it aint I?!"

"That accent is way too cockney; I don't get how someone born before British civilisation really flourished had a thick East End accent"

"Buggered if I know mate" she shrugs and brings down a pair of magnifying glasses down onto her nose.

As Jack walks out and towards his office his phone starts to ring, so he taps the side of his Bluetooth device.

"Hello, General, yes, we- you what?! Yes were on our way. TEAM! Suit up, naughty nasties afoot!"

They all get into the SUV and Jack briefs his team, "Right, this is not necessarily alien activity, but it has happened in the same time frame that our bug ship crashed to Earth, a guy- Matt Daniels, was buried yesterday afternoon, his mother went to his plot today and the earth had been disturbed, she called the police and they opened the grave and Matt's body was found mutilated"

"Mutilated? How mutilated?" Loria asks with a look of nausea on her face.

"He's missing his eyes and his lower jaw, it couldn't have happened prior to death, because Matt died from a stroke"

"How old was he?" Gwen asks concerned.

"32"

"Oh, god, as if it's not bad enough dying young someone or something comes and digs you up and nicks half your face!" Gwen sinks back into the car seat and stays quiet.

"What if this is just messed up grave robbers, there aint many aliens I've heard of that do that sort of thing" Loria adds.

"Maybe someone is planning a Frankenstein sequel and wants it to look real" Ianto pipes up, and gives Jack an amused smirk.

"Ianto, don't get me wrong, I think a lot of you, but you are special aren't you?" Loria leans forward and grins at him and Jack laughs.

"Am I the only one who doesn't find this funny!?" snaps Gwen.

"We don't find the case funny Gwen, im laughing at Ianto's choice of hobby, that's all!" Loria rubs Gwen's arm in a comforting gesture and Gwen glares at them all.

Loria looks out the window and pulls a face that just says 'ooooooooohhhhhhhhh'

They arrive at the scene and enter the tent covering the scene, Ianto stays in the car, Gwen and Loria take soil, skin and other samples from the body and surrounding area, Jack talks to the mother and offers her coffee, clearly laced with Ret Con, he asks her about Matt, finds out some background information, to see if he had anyone who really disliked him or if he was part of any cults or sects while he was alive.

"Jack were done" Gwen says as she passes him, her and Loria are both silent on the way back to the Hub, nothing could have prepared them for it, his tongue hanging down from nothing, bloodless and black eye sockets staring at nothing, he had been left to look as if he were trying to climb out from his own coffin, someone had either gone to a lot of trouble to arrange him like that, or they hadn't cared enough to return him to where he was.

"It was rank, I nearly barfed, whoever or whatever did this need stringin' up" Loria sits on the stairs of the medical bay, hugging herself and rocking slightly. "I mean I've seen some nasty shit in my time, but that, to think anything is capable of dragging a young guy out of his resting to butcher him, it's inexcusable, whatever the reasons"

"What did his mother say to you Jack" Gwen looks up at him as he stands above her.

"He was any normal guy, girlfriend, steady job as a labourer, didn't believe in cults or anything like that, he never got into fights, she never heard of him having any enemies of any kind, so it's unlikely that the perpetrator knew who Matt was, all they knew is that he was a fresh corpse for the taking"

"You're not going to like this guys" Ianto looks up from the samples he's testing, "From the pressure marks on the flesh around the jaw and eyes, it appears whoever did this did it with their bare hands, this was literally a 'snatch and grab', emphasis on the 'grab'"

"So someone dug him up, smashed his coffin open and wrenched his eyes out, and pulled off his jaw?" Gwen cries.

"That would take considerable strength, and knowing where to put pressure in the right places, those breaks were clean, nothing splintered, or torn, the rest of his face were untouched" Jack looks puzzled and turns to Loria "Whaddya think Torque?"

Loria had gone very white, and was fighting being sick from fear. But she had to compose herself. Fast.

"It aint human, humans are messy when it comes to brute force, you only resort to it if you're in a hurry and are not fussy about the amount of damage you cause as long as you get what you want, this was precise and done carefully, which leaves two options, either a someone the size of Mr. Hyde and gentile of Dr, Jekyll, or it's something more than a bit foreign"

"Alien"

"Yep, no doubt, I'll get back to Sir Killa-Jelly-Bug, and wrench him open, if he's hollow, our culprit is alien, and then I'll need to do some research on what breed"

"Do it" Loria leaves and he turns to Gwen and Ianto.

"Gwen, get on the phone with the police, tell them to patrol the graveyard Matt's in, just to rule out any link to him, if there is; the thing that did this might come back for the rest of him; Ianto, call the hospital and tell them to keep the morgue under watch for the next few days, it's one thing from a graveyard, but you'd need balls of steel to grave rob a hospital, but an alien might just have em"

Jack storms into his office and gets on the phone with U.N.I.T ". . . General is this line secure? Good, our ship, was there anything to suggest anything left it?. . Nothing? No don't bother, we'll see to it"

Loria gets a crowbar out of her tool bag and puts on a PVC white coat and goggles, she takes the crowbar and jams it into every crevice she can find and wrenches, eventually after four attempts the metal side of the ship opens as if on a hinge, and inside, a hollow space big enough to fit a small child.

"JACK! We've got problems!"

"Ok, so an alien is our guy, all we gotta do now is find out what he looks like and track him down"

"Im on it, you want pictures of this?"

"Yeah, you need help on the research?"

"If Gwen is ok to help after she gets off the phone from the filth"

"Done"

Gwen and Loria trek through thousands of different case files, none of them matching their 'jelly bug' alien, some come pretty close, but small differences in the ship make it disappointment after disappointment.

"This is bollocks, we aint never going to find it this way, it'll take all fucking week, im taking another look at that ship see if there's any kind of language on it that will help us"

"Ok, um, Lor? Im sorry I snapped at you earlier, it was uncalled for"

"No worries kitten, it was understandable, people deal with nasty things differently, me and Ianto used humour because it we found it awful not because it was funny, in no way was it funny, you had a point" the two women smile at one another and then Loria runs upstairs.

The whole team trail through more and more files and photographs, Ianto puts a scan of Loria's photo through the scanner to speed things up on the computer; meanwhile Jack and Gwen continue to trail through the paper files, going as far back as the early 1900's and still nothing.

Loria is now half upside-down in 'Sir Killa-Jelly-Bug' inspecting something that looks like a symbol of two different types of alien moulding into one another, in a repeating hologram, when it clicks.

"IT'S A MERGER, IT'S A FUCKING MERGER!!" screamed Loria as she ran down the stairs.

"What's a Merger when it's at home?" Jack asks, looking relieved and nervous at Loria's expression.

"Merger's are a type of alien that travel through space and they take refuge in shells of other life forms; corpses, sometimes, depending on the age and skill of the alien they like to take a host who isn't all together"

Gwen walks forward and quizzes Loria further "What are you saying Loria?"

"They think the less of a corpse they can hole up in and-" Loria starts to heave and Jack and Ianto rush forward "Im ok, oh, god, hole up in and _rebuild;_ the more artistic and brilliant it is, they get off on the less they start out with the harder it is to bring it back to full form"

"What so they rebuild corpses and go? I know it's disgusting but it could be worse" Jack sighs in relief and then sees Loria looking at him confused. "It gets worse?"

Loria nods "They don't just rebuild the corpse and fuck off no, they resurrect the corpse, using bits of other dead bits of dead creatures of the same race, this is why they think of it as art, they don't just go, and, animate the body of a Caucasian man and put him back together with bits from African American women and Chinese men, otherwise, when the body re-animates on completion-"

"You'd have someone walking round with bits different colours and lengths" Jack finished the sentence for her.

Loria stood straight "The Mergers see themselves as gods, they think they can dictate who stays dead and who comes back, in many alien cultures it's accepted and even some do worship them, but a society like Earth's where you have rituals for your dead, funerals, wakes, parties, when you die, your wiped from the slate, everyone knows your dead, so the poor guy they've resurrected would have to remain a ghost or die all over again, and not many people are mentally strong enough to take their own life, once they're complete, the Merger just dissipates and returns to their ship and fucks off to the next place it feels inclined to visit or 'bless'"

"Do the people or aliens know whats happened to them when they er, re-animate?" Asked Gwen

"Some have claimed to be semi-conscious during the last couple of stages of re-animation; it was never really widely accepted though"

"How come ya know so much Torque?" Jack looks at the still pale and steadily saddening face of Loria.

"I had a friend, a close friend, she died in combat with the galaxy police, she was an orphan and I was the only person who would've missed her so I felt no need to tell anyone, but I found her floating around in the wreckage afterwards, I brought what I could find of her on board, and I buried her near her home town. 14 months later, im sitting in a pub on Saquertine and she walked in the door, and ordered a drink, and sat right in front of me, she had no idea what happened, she just said one minute she saw that big ball of fire hurling towards her front screen, next thing she knows she's stood in a pit of bodies not far from where she used to live-"

"A pit of bodies?!" Gwen was not taking this well.

"Yeah, not all planets appreciate their dead as much as you, sorry. But all she knew was she was back, and it made it easier to be a pirate because the space muppets thought she was dead, she embraced her resurrection, others haven't, when you do what I did, you meet a lot of species of alien that have been brought back, some messier jobs than others, and they took their lives again, some in the most awful ways, but the Mergers keep going, and it's not like you can fight them, their made of a mix of a sort gas and fluid it's supposed to hold huge electrical currents, that way when a new body part is attached, it closes the circuit a little more and their energy pushes blood and serotonin to the surface, renews skin cells, they even re start your vitals if you've got them all, the heart, the brain, kidneys etc. We need to find this thing and stop it"

"I thought you said they couldn't be stopped" Jack spoke softly as this was such a sensitive issue for his little Torque.

"They can't in their natural state, but if you happen to stumble upon half a body wandering around, if- euch- I can't believe Im saying this, you have to- to destroy the body it's in, while it's in it, fire is the best way apparently"

"How did this get discovered?" asked Gwen

"There are vigilante groups who chase covens of Mergers across the universe, waiting for them to start the resurrection process, and when they found the body, they obviously tried various ways of stopping it, and fire was clearly the winner of that little competition, and the re-animated can set 

themselves alight if they want a definite way to stay dead, Mergers have been known to re-animate the same corpse more than once"

"That's wrong, that's terrifying. Why do they do it?"

"I told you they get off on it, they think, if they choose you for resurrection, then who are you to deny them, you kill yourself, they bring you back, over and over until you accept what you are and that you are a 'blessed one' they're pretty fucked up"

"Where are they from Torque?"

"No one really knows, a lot of people think they're a 'dawn of time' deal, been around since the beginning, they go into hiding for hundreds of years sometimes, they like the dark, the damp, hence, dead people, and night time strolls"

Well, I think lighters at the ready and a can of petrol and were off on a bogey-man hunt guy and gals!" Jack was determined to stay a little positive, Ianto was still a bit numb from hearing these revelations, Gwen had pretty much lost it, and Loria was definitely not having fun.

"Hold it! Im destroying that ship, that way if we miss it, no matter where it hides, without the safety of its ship, it'll die, no matter what"

_Once again the shuffling man emerged from his dank hiding place, but this time the opposite direction, a new cemetery, and the smell of a fresh body, the Merger inside became excited, it willed the corpse forward at a faster pace. Once it reached its destination it repeated the first performance of digging and bashing the coffin open and dragging up the corpse, this time he pulled it out completely; this time it's the left foot that comes off this body and once again is merged with the ankle perfectly, the sound of bone cracking as it joins completely, next the fingers for the right hand, three, the index, the middle and pinkie; finally the walking corpse drags his fingernails into the scalp of the lifeless body and peels back the scalp, and places it upon his own head almost as if he were a puppet on strings, and the like sound of rubber stretching the scalp moulded to his head and the hair changed colour, length and style. _

_The Merger had grown very powerful and could shape change basic things like hair and skin colour and texture. Once again they leave the body lying butchered and lying on top of his coffin, and the earth tumbles back over him. When the dead man moves now it's not jerky or awkward but fluid and natural, the only thing to do was the skin, but that would take time and they were running out of it tonight, and so back to the lair for one last time. . ._

"Gwen, try to get some sleep ok? I know it's terrible, but we'll stop it ok, we just need to figure out his next move, the hospital and Andy both called and reported no foul play, so chances are nothing happened tonight-hopefully"

"Thanks Loria, Im sorry I pressed you so much, I just. Needed to know"

"I know" they hug tightly and say goodnight, Loria also bids Ianto goodnight with a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of his hand.

As she lay on her bed she hears Jack enter her room, he sits down beside her and strokes her head.

"You were amazing tonight Torque, that must've been real hard for you, I know Gwen-"

"She's only human, she needed to get why, it's normal" she looked sullen and uncomfortable so Jack stopped his stroking.

"Oi, don't stop Yank boy, that was relaxing" she opened one eye and grinned up at him.

"You're tough, but even you have feelings, and don't deny it"

"You know it, you know summat? I've seen more creepy arse shit on this one planet than I have being on hundreds of others, it's disturbing, and as of tonight, nostalgic" Jack laughs with his friend until the morning, and lying side by side they recount again and again their plan of action, which involved Gwen staying as far from the dead things as was possible.

"She's such an asset when the shit hits the fan, but this one has really scared her, I don't know why"

"It's probably bringing back memories of another kind of butchery, up in the Brecon Beacons' a while back, a group of people had a once every 10 years ritualistic slay-fest, they preyed on people passing through, and cut em up and uh, well ate em"

"That's fucking gross, and they were human?!"

"Oh yeah, we found bodies stripped, half eaten, and just what looked like; mauled for fun"

"It was ritualistic?"

"They were all nuts, their 'harvest' they called it, a merger would have had a whale of a time in that kitchen" they smiled at one another knowing that in a couple of hours this would all start again, contrary to what Loria told Gwen, it was highly likely the merger would strike tonight, but the body needed to be near completion for the incineration to work to full effect, the Merger would be weaker and easier to overwhelm.

"You sure about this Loria?"

"Almost positive, even with the most decomposed and rotten bodies it takes a maximum of four days to complete re-animation, so if we hit on the third night, we'll either be greeted by a footless wonder, maybe a forearm missing, if we're lucky it'll be missing a whole limb like a leg or something, once a Merged corpse has full use of its legs, its looks like a normal person when it walks, the only giveaway then is the head sort of lolls around, not cause the necks broken; it's just relaxed muscle, or torn even, depending on the level of decomposition"

"You really do know an awful lot about this, how come?"

"After Leretta died and came back, I did research into possible causes for her 'ascension' if you like, she was a space pirate so there was no chance that a 'mythical being' would bring her back, she was scum of the universe, after a while it was so obvious what had done it and when I explained it to her, she wouldn't have it, she left me sitting there with my head in my hands, a couple of months later a 

mutual business friend told me she'd torched herself and her ship, I was gutted, all over again, and that was when I found out all there was to know about Mergers"

"Shit, this is a mess, what if we miss it, and some poor bastard ends up all put back together, what do we do?"

"We set the poor fuck alight, before he realises whats happened to him"

"You think you're capable of that?"  
"I've seen what this does to the hardest of characters, if some regular Joe Bloggs gets brought back, it'll drive him mad Jack, and I know if I was put back together with bits of about three other people, I would rather be burnt alive than go on another day, so yeah Im capable"

"Good, because im not sure if I am"

"It doesn't make you weak Jack, taking an innocent persons life, even if it is for their safety, is awful, I don't know how them vigilante groups strive to do it every day, just to try and wipe out a race that no one really knows anything about, yeah we know what they do, why and how to stop them one at a time, but no one knows where they disappear to, where they originate from, it's bollocks"

"Im there with ya Loria, right there with ya"

That morning Jack and Loria sat Ianto and Gwen down and had to admit that the Merger had struck again, and it was worse this time, the guy was 38 and had died of cancer, his name was John Pryce. U.N.I.T sent photo's to the Hub, which made Gwen rush to the bathroom, twice.

"So that's a foot, the scalp, three fingers, two eyes and a jaw, well, what else is there?"

"Damaged skin?" offered Ianto.

"Yes! The biggest part of decomposition is skin rotting and falling away, the only thing I find weird, is why the scalp? The only reason you'd need to replace the scalp would be if the person being resurrected had either burnt to death or they had been exposed with a large amount of radiation"

"So that narrows it down to every guy that got caught in a fire or had cancer" said Jack, putting his head in hands.

"So we need to do a search of every 30-40 year old who's passed away in the last 12-14 months, after that there's nothing to work with except bones, which is not enough to house and hide the Merger, once we narrow it down, we look for ones that upped and left one day, or cases of body snatching from funeral parlours or graves, even bodies that never made it as far as the hospital, anything to figure out who this is" Loria took control of the situation, this was getting to all of them for different reasons, for the other three this reminded them of bad times, for Loria, this was personal.

_Once again, the man left the now cramped hole they were hiding in, his skin was now ice white, his lips blue and eyes glazed, he walked to the third and final grave, this wasn't as fresh as the other two, but that would make it easier to get what they needed, once again he dug, it took longer, but after about 30 minutes he was through. . ._

"Right everyone! You know what to do, you know we still have no idea who this poor guy is, so, Ianto, take the SUV and coast around every graveyard in a 3 mile radius of the other two, Loria, you take this red area" he said pointing to a huge map of Cardiff, with a three coloured circle over the top on a separate sheet.

"Gwen, the blue, and look at that Im pink!" this made them all laugh, so they all split up and armed with a small blowtorch and a gas canister strapped to their backs they went to wage war on something they couldn't tell was dead or alive unless they got too close and spooked it, and they didn't know where it would be.

_Punching the lid of the coffin through the corpse retracted his hand; he had sliced the skin open across the knuckles but due to the distinct lack of blood he felt no pain and no bleeding occurred, he lifted the body clear of the coffin and threw it onto the ground, he climbed out and once again with his fingernails he pulled patches of skin off the body, piece by piece he flayed the corpse, his face unemotional, unknowing what he was doing, but something in his body knew, looping in and out of his organs telling the muscles to move, controlling the motion of fingers and arms._

_First the legs, as the skin attached through the clothes, the fabric became loose, and unattached from the body, then the lower body, the waistband of the jeans cracked and bubbled as it detached from his body, next the torso, the t shirt loosened and fell off, the arms and finally, the neck and face._

"Jack, Loria here, I've done almost all my yards, where do you want me after?"

"You're closest to Gwen aren't ya? Join up with her wherever she is, Gwen how ya getting on?"

"Sweet Jack Shit, nothing here except the still dead"

"Ianto?"

"Nothing, quiet, a couple of hoodies in one of them, but I chased them off, they were definitely alive, bloody rude!"

"Ianto's gettin his claws out girls!"

"Saucer of milk Ianto?"

"Maybe later"

"Oh fuck me..."

"GWEN!"

The two men and Loria moved fast tracking Gwen's earpiece, Loria reached her first, and Gwen had frozen, just staring at a figure, topless, with ripped jeans, dark hair and one sock on; contorting in horrifying directions, making guttural noises, it was awful.

'_The brain is the first part that needs to wake up, after all it controls the body, when it first re-animates the host will have a minor stroke, then the heart will start to beat, this is where I really come in, I am made of life, I carry blood in my life force, I've lived in this shell for weeks, I rescued it from destruction, a horrific way to go, finally he will have his life back, no more half lives, he is a 'blessed one' and a special one at that, he was barely there when I got to him, ah the blood flows, trickles at first, barely enough to keep him alive._

_Now the vital organs, first the lungs, then the kidneys, to filter the blood, now the liver and spleen, then the rest follows. . ._

The two women just watched as his limbs bent out at right angles, it might have been funny if they hadn't known what was happening , he was screaming now, screaming in pain, Ianto got there second, he jumped out of the car and stopped next to Loria, he too became rooted to the spot,

"Is that . . ."

"Yeah, I can't move, it's been so long since I've seen it happen, and it never happened like this"

"What?"

"The jerking, I've never seen that before, maybe I just never saw the re-animation this early on"

"He's coming back to life?" Gwen managed to just tear eyes away to look at Loria, just so see her nod.

"Im here. Oh god, Loria, whats happening to him?"

"I don't know, it looks like he's trying to fight it, or something"

"Are we stickin to the plan?" he looked right at Loria.

"Wait, if this goes wrong and the Merger gives up and the poor guy is between life and death, we may have to put him out of misery, do it now and he'll wander, lost forever"

_He felt the blood rush through him, he was waking up, but he didn't want to, he was happy in the dark, it was where he belonged, but it wouldn't stop, this burning feeling all over his body, like liquid fire, he couldn't stay where he was, he had no choice, as his essence filled his body all his memories came flooding back, his death, it was torturous, the long wait, and then this light, it saved him, took him away and sent him to the darkness, and now that same light was dragging him back, it was angry that he wanted to stay._

_As his blood thickened and his heart started beating his eyes snapped shut, trying to retain the dark, but when they were finally wrenched open, and the burning stopped, and he slowly opened his eyes, it was night he knew that, but it was still blindingly bright, where was he, oh god not back. In. the- No _

_wait - He could feel his heart, beating a slow steady rhythm, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Finally, he, Owen Harper was alive, and he could hear voices . . . _

"There it goes; it's heading toward the crash site"

"It won't find it though, I scorched it, it'll disappear, run of power, of energy, and the fucking thing will die"

"Oh god look!"

Loria turned with the others to see what Gwen was looking at. The man, he was admiring his hands, or shielding himself from the street light, 'probably both' thought Loria.

"Lor, what are we gonna do?" Jack sounded scared now, his ex-partner in crime, his rock , now silent.

"Lor"

"Wait here"

She walked slowly up to the man, he was no older than 33 or 34, he was lithe and athletic, he was no cancer victim, 'the merger must have been powerful, and that skin looked like he had always had it'

She walked closer, and around him, 'he's attractive and he's scared' Loria cursed for her moment of humour, now was definitely not the time.

"Hello, my names Loria, who are you?"

He hesitated and narrowed eyes and smiled 'that must've melted a thousand hearts back in the day', he eyed her with interest and said;

"Owen Harper" but his tone changed quickly and became the scared boy all over again "Do you know where we are, I'm a bit lost you see"

"I know, me and my friend's are going to help you"

"Your friends?"

As Owen turned the first sight he saw was a tall-ish black haired woman, a vision he'd seen a million times while he was away and as he looked at her she put her hand to her mouth and fell to the ground "Gwen..."

"You know her?"

"That's Torchwood" his eyes were wide as plates, he was definitely trying to figure out what happened to him.

"Come on, I'll help you"

He turned quickly to look at her "Do you promise?" he looked about 12 now, scared and confused, this was totally different to Leretta, she was so confident, there was something different about this one, Loria got the feeling he wasn't dead when they took him.

"Owen" Gwen sank to the floor as Loria turned him around, she felt Jack and Ianto go slack beside her and find their footing, it was Owen, it was him, and now he was back, but it wasn't, it was those people, but it all looked like him, his hair, his eyes, his skin, his hands, as he came closer she found her strength, and stood up, slowly she walked towards him

"How do you know Torchwood then?" Loria asked gently, this was obviously one Jack missed on the Ret Con rounds.

"I used to work for them, a while ago, well not that long ago" Loria blinked, Shocked. 'And they never said anything about you?' she stopped her inner monologue and returned to Owen.

"I think that Gwen is pleased to see you"

"I hope so" he said his voice so quiet but it sounded like it might crack at any moment.

"Owen?"

"Gwen?"

Gwen ran forward and held him, it was Owen, all of him, there was no one else's skin or eyes there, what happened, she didn't care, Owen was alive, and he was back.

Loria and Jack exchanged worried glances, she put her hands in her coat pockets and pulled down on them, Jack suspected she'd picked that up from a certain someone.

"You're back!"

"Yeah"

"How?"

"I dunno. She found me" he pointed to Loria, and she looked away.

"Jack I think we should be getting back to HQ, there are a lot of things to tie up"  
"I agree, Loria" she looked right at him, he was furious, she wasn't sure why, but then she was, she said that she could kill someone, but she didn't quite expect that someone to be someone they had known and worked with.

When they arrived back after possibly the longest 15 minute car journey of their lives they all sat in the hub, Gwen was running around fetching blankets for Owen, Ianto made him some coffee, although Ianto couldn't say anything, not even look at Owen. But Gwen was all over him, Gwen, married Gwen, and Gwen who talked about Rhys every bloody day talking about how amazing he was. And here she was running round like a lovesick puppy, Loria was being talked at by Jack, he was filling her in quite plainly about Owen, and what had happened, he was watching Gwen too, probably thinking the same thing but with a pinch of jealousy thrown in.

When they were all settled, Jack started.

"Well, Im glad to see we stuck together on this one, 'blatantly aimed at me' and we got the job done 'and that one' the alien will die if what Loria says is correct, is it?" he spat the last two words at her, but she never flinched.

"Yes. It needs it's ship to energise itself, Mergers are giant batteries, the need to charge up, it has no plug, it can't charge, and it will die, it'll turn into a big black shiny rock, and then all you need do is smash the shit out of it"

"Oh good you can do that then, you think you can do that?" his words were like barbs but he kept his voice low and calm, but he wouldn't break her.

"I can do that if you wish Jack"

"Thank you, now Loria, care to explain this" he gestured to his former employee sat eyes darting around the Hub, still very quiet.

"I don't know, I didn't know anything about Owen's death, you never told me; tell me Owen how did you die?"

"I was shot"

"Thank you, now how would you have died if you hadn't been 'undead' 4 months ago?"

"I would have melted in the nuclear sub reactor"

"So that would involve a large amount of radiation, wouldn't it!" she looked from left to right at Jack, Gwen and Ianto, who all averted their gaze when she went to meet it.

"Er, yeah"

"Do you remember your last moments in the reactor Owen?" Loria's voice had become soft again, this wasn't his fault in the slightest and she was damned if she was going to let him think it was.

"I remember watching my skin bubble, I went blind very quickly, and then I remember feeling this warmth all over me, I couldn't feel anything when I was 'undead' as you put it, so I naturally thought I was dying, but I remember moving and still feeling like I was suspended in thick liquid, but I was warm, and then it went black, and then I remember the warmth again, but then it was like burning, then I saw you"

Loria, frowned and pondered, "Mergers, could use nuclear power as a power source, but that doesn't explain the ship crashing, but I think a Merger could have pulled you out of there, and hid you in the ship, encased you within it, rather than the other way around, you said warm and thick liquid?"

"When the reactor blew I got immersed in radioactive liquid, is the only way to explain it, and I could feel nothing, I was watching my skin bubble and burn and when it reached my eyes I went blind, it wasn't till a couple of minutes later I felt warm and safe"

"And it burnt when you came back?"

"Yeah" Owen was not normally patient, but this woman commanded the room at the moment and she was trying to get to the bottom of this.

"Can I just ask, what are mergers?"

"They're aliens, that can perform and do perform full being resurrections"

"I was resurrected?!"

"Yes, im just puzzled, I think and the simplest answer is, that you were a challenge, an ego boost if it worked, a pride saver, bring the non dead man back to full life, heartbeat, central nervous system working, brain fully functional, every inch in full working order"

"Is that your final opinion Loria?"

"It's the only explanation, either that OR the alien crashed here a long time ago, sensed a nuclear leak and hopped in for a pick me up, and recognised a member of Torchwood and thought they'd score brownie points by keeping you in stasis until it had the energy to bring you back fully"

"Stasis?"

"The warmth you felt, you said it went after a couple of minutes, well it didn't that warmth would have been there pretty much the whole time you were gone, and only during your resurrection process, would you have truly died"

"So what would I have been doing throughout this process?"

"The Torchwood crew looked at one another, and then finally Loria looked at Gwen, she shook her head very slightly, and then she looked at Jack, who's eyes said verses was saying a definite NO, so Loria did what she did second best, she lied to him.

"You would have been suspended in a kind of fake life in the darkness, while the Mergers prepared to bring you back, the burning would have been your blood pumping through your veins, it would possibly have been more painful for you because your body was already dead when you were put in stasis"

"So im normal, I'm back, for real?"

"Yes, free to live a full healthy happy life"

"Thank you, for coming to get me"

The other four smiled at him, genuine smiles, Loria could tell both Jack and Ianto were happy that Owen was alive.

Owen had gone back to Ianto's place until they could figure out how to re-instate him. Loria was alone in her room, when Jack – without knocking, came in.

"You ever heard of knocking?"

"You let me down today"

"You let me down by forgetting to mention the way Owen actually went, I even mentioned radiation and you never said a word"

"You said you could do it, and let him come back"

"I guarantee if I had killed him I would now be being chastised for killing an ex employee who was sorely missed"

"He suffered for nearly 10 minutes, and you let it happen"

"I didn't see you charging in to save the day"

"You said wait, I trusted you on this because of your knowledge!"

"I thought if you trusted me you would have told me about Owen"

"I don't understand how you can be so calm Loria!"

"I don't see why you're raising your voice Jack"

"Because I now have a supposed to be dead man, walking around the streets of Cardiff!"

"Im sure that bothered you so much after YOU used a bloody resurrection glove on the poor bastard!"

"How did you know?"

"Im not an idiot, how else do you keep a dead man walking, you give an immortal a resurrection device of some kind on a corpse, hey presto! You've got yourself the next thing up from a zombie, so before you go off on one at me about being un-trustworthy and failing you, take long hard look in the fucking mirror"

Jack looked at her for what felt like years, they were burning into each other's eyes, in all their time of knowing one another, neither of them having aged a day, they read each other's eyes for the giveaway signs.

He knew she felt guilty for letting Owen go through that, and she knew she would be the one to clean this mess up tomorrow, she knew he wasn't angry at her, he was angry at himself for not doing what he was supposed to do, take control, be the hero, he knew deep down that he SHOULD have told her about Owen, but in truth he didn't want to tempt fate by mentioning it, but it happened anyway, and now Gwen would probably commit adultery again, and if he had told Torque, maybe she could have stopped it.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" her voice and face were hard, but her eyes had softened, she had forgiven him.

"No" and walked in, and he sat down next to her, and he pulled her into his lap, she wrapped her arms around him and he felt her smile into his shoulder and that in turn made him grin.

"Im sorry Torque"

"I know, don't do it again" she looked him right in the eye that time, if any of the others had said that to him, he would have gone nuts considering the circumstances, but this was Torque, plus if they fell out, she would bolt, and leave him all alone. Again.

THE END

Its Sooooo random I know but hey ho I was very bored, I've just read it through and its quite disgusting in places.

RnR pretty please!!

xKatix


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